Project: One photo a day (but not necessarily every day)

[bironi]

Woke up and felt someone looking at me...



There's a two-fur-one sale on rodents Jan - Mar.

You must have keen senses.
I had to look twice to see what you saw.
Was he or she waiting on morning coffee?

[j44ke]

You must have keen senses.
I had to look twice to see what you saw.
Was he or she waiting on morning coffee?

Hunting voles, one of nature's little snack cakes.

[rwsaunders]

From Friday, certainly not today.

[bironi]

Hunting voles, one of nature's little snack cakes.

Not what I have with my coffee.
Those big eyes looking for blind treats?
It's a cruel world.
Great pic.
I rarely see an owl, but I do love their, "Hoo, hooo - hoo, hoo".

[j44ke]

Not what I have with my coffee.
Those big eyes looking for blind treats?
It's a cruel world.
Great pic.
I rarely see an owl, but I do love their, "Hoo, hooo - hoo, hoo".

You are perhaps thinking of moles, small insectivorous non-rodent mammals with limited eyesight that are in the same family as shrews and hedgehogs. Voles are rodents, herbivorous, and sighted. And evidently tasty, because nearly everything - foxes, bobcats, coyotes, owls, hawks and snakes - eats them.

[72gmc]

Voles are rodents, herbivorous, and sighted. And evidently tasty, because nearly everything - foxes, bobcats, coyotes, owls, hawks and snakes - eats them.

One of the group of animals I call Nature’s Hot Pockets. I am not a scientist.

[Tom]

My friend Tina wishes her local owls were more on the ball. She has at least 40 rose bushes on her property. Before last year she had at least 60. She said when she uncovered her roses in the spring she was catching voles with her bare hands.

[j44ke]

One of the group of animals I call Nature’s Hot Pockets. I am not a scientist.

Genius minds - we call them nature's snack cakes but Hot Pocket has a nice bit of extra description.

They are hunted by short-tail shrews, and we have plenty of those also. Shrews can go through a nest of voles in a few seconds and kill all of them. Ninjas those shrews.

[j44ke]

Final barn cleaning to remove a Noah's Ark of excrement from every surface. And cobwebs.

[j44ke]

My friend Tina wishes her local owls were more on the ball. She has at least 40 rose bushes on her property. Before last year she had at least 60. She said when she uncovered her roses in the spring she was catching voles with her bare hands.

The cover is what the voles come for. The roses just happen to be on the menu. She needs to find an alternative to covering over in winter or restructure her beds so they are not open to the ground - like raised beds with wire hardware cloth bottoms. Spray the ground around the roses with a diluted (water) mix of soap and castor oil. Poisons will help break up an infestation, but most of them will also kill your dog, cat and any predator that eats the voles that have ingested the poison. If poisons will be used, keep other animals safe.

Best might be to get a couple coyotes.

[rwsaunders]

Final barn cleaning to remove a Noah's Ark of excrement from every surface. And cobwebs.

I see goats in your future.

[open roader]

Final barn cleaning to remove a Noah's Ark of excrement from every surface. And cobwebs.

Love the floor - that is perfect.

Q. what's on the upper side of the roof - above those boards I see / shingles/ tin?

[open roader]

[j44ke]

I see goats in your future.

I wish. Goats are the best farm animals. But they also eat barns.

Love the floor - that is perfect.

Q. what's on the upper side of the roof - above those boards I see / shingles/ tin?

Shingles. Originally were cedar shingles. Barn is from 1830. Asphalt shingles since the 1950's approx. The concrete floor was hand poured and not leveled and there was no stable base installed underneath. So you have to watch where you walk or your foot will go straight through, that's how crumbly sections are.

[robin3mj]

Well, if we’re not riding this weekend, we might as well sneak in a sunrise hike.